Art

Maria Nordman Filmroom: Smoke, 1967–Present

Art of the Americas Building, Level 2, West Entrance

September 4, 2011–May 20, 2012

Maria Nordman is internationally known as one of the most significant artists to emerge from Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s. FILMROOM: SMOKE is one of her earliest artworks, made at the time she left UCLA graduate school.

“Nordman is so often categorized as part of LA’s so-called ‘Light and Space’ movement, but in fact her work comes from a completely different—and appropriately Los Angeles inspired—point of view, demonstrated not only by her numerous projects in Europe and the U.S. in the last decade, but also by this early landmark artwork,” said Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director.

A single room silent double projection, FILMROOM: SMOKE incorporates a real chair and documents two actors interacting with the same chair on the beach at the ocean’s edge. The side-by-side projections, divided by a wall, describe two distinctly different camera compositions: one largely active and detailed, and one more still and general. The filmic picture plane is literally aligned with the meeting of earth and water along the L.A. coastline.

Yang Na, 2011–, a new outdoor sculpture by Nordman, inscribes the FILMROOM into real space, framing visitors as they interact with their surroundings and each other, analogous to the actors in FILMROOM: SMOKE. Read More (PDF | 3.3mb)

Since opening last fall, Maria Nordman FILMROOM SMOKE 1967–Present continues to evolve to include other works by the artist—YANG NA, 2011–Present and a cabinet of two-sided drawings, PUBLIC SQUARE and GROUND OWL GROUND SQUIRREL PARK, previously on view on MOCA’s exhibition Under the Big Black Sun...